| CB
ATHLETIC CONSULTING TRAINING REPORT -
www.cbathletics.com |
| |
ISSUE #103
INSIDE THIS ISSUE…
Resources
A lot of things are happening over at www.grrlathlete.com
and there are many articles you need to check out. Here
are some topics:
Preventing
Running & Sports Injuries
Soccer
strength & conditioning with USA national team member &
FHM model Heather Mitts
Secrets
of Female Strength & Conditioning
Coming up in future grrlAthlete.com articles:
· Paul Chek discusses female-specific training considerations.
· Mike Mejia, CSCS, discusses speed-agility training for
tennis.
· How to Train for a Sprint Triathlon
· Secrets of basketball strength & conditioning in the NCAA
Attention: All recent subscribers interested
in hockey conditioning:
Over at www.optperformance.com
Coach Mike Gough, CSCS, will soon be launching his hockey
training manual and hockey training website. There have
been many recent newsletter sign-ups indicating an interest
in hockey...so there will be more hockey-specific strength
One Man’s Results with
Get Lean!
Todd Thompson of Texas is a true success story.
His “every man” story of going from an out-of-shape regular
guy to a strong, fit, healthy man is similar to the journey
that many others wish to take.
Not only did he make significant physical
changes, but he also improved his lifestyle and overall
well being. He’s become an active promoter of men’s health,
pouring great effort into helping the fitness goals of others.
CB: Todd, congratulations on your fat
loss success with the Get Lean manual. Take us through the
last couple of months since you started with Get Lean.
Todd T: Get Lean was a real godsend to me. I became motivated
back in January when my doctor gave me some very unwanted
advice about losing weight, quitting smoking, and getting
my life in order. I resented the advice and just flat out
told him, “No way, I won’t stick with it, and I’m perfectly
satisfied with who I am.” I left the office ticked off because
I knew he was right, but I didn’t want to do anything about
it.
He recommended a book to me, which I read a week or
so later, and I started doing walks in the morning, while
it was still dark outside. I didn’t want anyone to see me.
I weighed about 293 pounds at the time. After a couple of
weeks of walking, I decided to come out into the light of
day and join a gym.
CB: Just a quick note here Todd, it’s
absolutely essential that everyone get approval from their
doctor prior to beginning an exercise program – good for
you for listening to his recommendations. Todd, it’s also
very encouraging to see that a simple walking program can
help with initial fat loss and a healthier lifestyle. How
did the subsequent gym visits go for you?
TT: I got involved initially with a personal trainer. I simply
wanted him to remind me of proper lifting technique and to
just get my muscles ready for more intense exercise later.
I stayed with his program until some time in February.
I had already adjusted my diet to a 40/30/30 split of protein/carbohydrate/fat,
based mostly on the Testosterone Advantage Plan (a book from
Men’s Health).
CB: So Men’s Health (magazine & website)
also gave you some direction?
TT: I had been reading on the Men’s Health
Belly Off Club forum (www.menshealth.com)
about HIIT (high-intensity interval training), and somehow
I became very interested in this form of cardio training,
not realizing it is really a type of exercise unto itself.
Having seen multiple references to HIIT, at some point I
was directed to www.cbathletics.com.
At the time
I became interested in the Get Lean program, mostly through
steady cardio and a weightlifting regimen I had lost down
to about 264 pounds, so I was well on my way with weight loss,
but my strength gains had not yet come into play. In fact,
I’m fairly convinced the steady cardio robbed me of some strength
gains, but I’m not expert enough to know this for sure.
I purchased and downloaded the Get Lean manual. I was highly
motivated, both because I was already making progress, and
because I had developed some personal goals which involved
both gaining strength and losing fat, while being able to
walk stairs without passing out. I needed structure, motivation,
and a little personal attention, all of which were provided
with Get Lean.
CB: Some research suggests that online
support groups, such as the “Belly Off Club” can help with
fat loss program. How did the Men’s Health message board
help you?
TT: I entered the 52 Day Challenge, a member-run challenge
on the Belly Off Club forum, and I made Get Lean my training
choice for the 52 day period. It was extraordinarily exciting
to see the progress. My weight continued to drop, my strength
started gaining very quickly.
Along with the encouragement
of others on the Belly Off Club forum, and the great structure
of Get Lean, I was highly successful with the program. Here
are my personal stats, just since starting the Get Lean program:
Body Fat %: I’ve lost 6.52%, per Tanita scale measurement.
Weight Loss: 23 pounds since I started Get Lean, keeping in
mind I had already sloughed off about 30 pounds prior to getting
into a structured program. My body had already been prepared
for the intensity of Get Lean.
Lean Mass: My lean mass
has stayed pretty even, at times, rising some. I attribute
the success of maintaining my lean mass to the fluctuation
of the measurement method itself. I can tell my shoulders,
my thighs, biceps and ab muscles are much bigger. It’s quite
a thrill to see the development.
Pants size: When I started
Get Lean, I was wearing 42 pants, already down from 44 inch
pants before starting Get Lean. I am now wearing 36 pants
very comfortably.
I can now do some pull-ups even though
I have some rotator cuff problems, and I am starting to be
able to do dips again.
I am now into Turbulence Training
1, and I’m switching this week to Turbulence Training 2. This
is one of the great values of Get Lean. I also get the Turbulence
Training in its full-blown version.
CB: What was your prior training experience
back in the day?
TT: You thought my last response was long? I’ll try to keep
this short. I was an athlete in high school and college.
After college (1976 graduate), I just simply got fat and out
of shape. I’ve had periods of interest in fitness, even running
for a time in the late 80’s, getting up to about 30 miles
per week. It hurt my knees to run that much, though, so I
had to give it up. I also felt very, very weak from running.
I’ve also been through the high protein diet route, but without
an exercise program. I lost 60 pounds a few years back on
the popular protein/fat diet plan. I was successful with it,
but it became very boring to me because I had to have enough
carbohydrates to make it a permanent lifestyle change. It
was too hard to work around the low carb rule, and I simply
gave up on it. Back to fat. In fact, fatter than ever.
CB: So how were the workouts in Get Lean
different from what you were used to doing, or what you
thought you should do?
TT: Several seemingly minor issues could be discussed here,
but I think they are major. First, incorporating HIIT into
the same day routine as the lifting was, I thought, unusual.
But, as an efficient fat burner, I think it was the key to
success. I could somehow tell the difference physically on
the days I worked out that I was burning more fat. It may
have been all in my mind, but I don’t think so.
Also,
the importance of the one-minute rest could be emphasized.
I definitely noticed the muscle fatigue and recovery challenging
me.
I honestly thought I would have to be heavier into
steady cardio, and I was worried about my knees. I was shocked
to know how successful I could be with HIIT. The time efficiency
of Get Lean and Turbulence Training is a key element of the
success of it.
Generally, I work out from 5:00 a.m. to
6:00 a.m. After showering at the gym, I’m ready to be at work
by 6:30, or I simply go back home for awhile and greet my
wife and family as they get ready for the day. 5:00 a.m. is
not easy for some people, but for me, it was the way I could
do the program and not wrestle with the daily struggle of
being tired after work and finding all kinds of reasons not
to go work out.
I am also surprised that I have noticed
a strength gain. My squats started at about 175 pounds on
3 set of 8. I’m now doing squats easily for 3 sets of 8 at
225 pounds. I still struggle with my bench press, but I believe
this is due to the rotator cuff problem that I am working
on.
CB: Did you enjoy the workouts and the
philosophy of Get Lean?
TT: Yes! Enjoyment is a relative term, of course, but I have
enjoyed the success of the plan. Working out has become an
enjoyment, even though it has been hard work. It has given
me a sense of achievement, which at the age of 48, I thought
I would never experience again in the world of fitness and
athletic development.
The philosophy of lifestyle change,
incorporating the Get Lean eating principles into the workout
regimen, has taken hold in my life, and it has become simply
a big part of living, instead of becoming just another special
program of temporary focus.
I have often dieted, and I’ve
always heard about the importance of diet and exercise working
together, but until I started the Get Lean program, I had
not found a workout routine which was workable and which made
good theoretical sense to me. The fact that the programs are
designed to be done in an hour or less has really helped.
CB: What other lifestyle changes do you
feel made the greatest impact on your success?
TT: I have quit smoking. I have been an avid pipe and cigar
smoker for 20 years or longer. When I became committed to
the Get Lean program, I stopped smoking immediately. All the
cravings went away quickly, I think, because I was replacing
the high of nicotine with the high of exercise and the thrill
of physical progress.
I also have learned to deal with
stress much more successfully. Job stress, family stress,
financial stress, all the other stressors in life, have become
manageable through the fitness regimen and the commitment
to the program. As someone who suffered severely from depression
for many years, I have found a tremendous life advantage to
what I am calling “my new therapy”.
It’s healthy, fun,
and truly life-changing. To me, I believe we were put on the
earth to be workers and to meet physical demands successfully.
Sedentary lifestyle was just not the way we have survived
over the years as a species. It could very well be the end
of us if we do not incorporate a more challenging lifestyle.
CB: Any other thoughts on how you might
do things differently or on how people can best stick to
a lifestyle program?
TT: The biggest thing I would have incorporated early into
the Get Lean program, on a personal level, is that I would
stick with the rule more closely about taking a full day of
rest between workouts. I was so stimulated by the success
of the program and by the vigor and vitality it was giving
me, that I couldn’t stand the days off.
I would find reasons
to go to the gym. I would find myself doing stretching exercises,
and I would usually add some steady cardio from time-to-time.
I would begin feeling tired for my regular workout days, and
I would back off. I would still go to the gym a lot, but I
wouldn’t do any cardio, and I would just do things like crunches
and some ab work which was not specifically addressed in that
particular area of my program. This is the big lesson I learned.
I would want to address the issue of motivation with any newcomer
to this thing. I have been so close to getting started with
fitness so many times over the past 27 years, and it was becoming
easier and easier to turn away any thoughts of getting back
into shape.
For newcomers, here’s the deal: Just try it
for two weeks! You can do anything for two weeks, even if
you hate it immensely. Once you start receiving compliments
and questions, or start seeing a noticeable change in the
way your clothes fit, then motivation, like an accelerated
race car, picks up steam like nothing else can. Go with it!
You won’t have a motivation problem once you get committed
to the level to see some real results.
One more thing,
make yourself accountable. Keep good logs of your workouts,
and get online or get some friends who are equally committed.
Pour yourself into the fitness culture in a way that everyone
will be watching you. And, if you’re like me, you hate to
disappoint others.
CB: Thanks Todd. Feel free to visit Todd's
website and message board at www.texastodd.com.
The Get Lean manual is found at www.workoutmanuals.com.
www.cbathletics.com
www.grrlathlete.com
www.workoutmanuals.com
The information on cbathletics.com
is for education purposes only. It is not medical advice
and is not intended to replace the advice or attention of
health-care professionals. Consult your physician before
beginning or making changes in your diet or exercise program,
for diagnosis and treatment of illness and injuries, and
for advice regarding medications.
